1. Technical Field
This application relates to UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) in general, and to an apparatus and methods of handling simultaneous universal terrestrial radio access network radio resource control procedures with activation times in a universal mobile telecommunications system user equipment in particular.
2. Description of the Related Art
UMTS is a third generation public land mobile telecommunication system. Various standardization bodies are known to publish and set standards for UMTS, each in their respective areas of competence. For instance, the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) has been known to publish and set standards for GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) based UMTS, whereas and the 3GPP2 (Third Generation Partnership Project 2) has been known to publish and set standards for CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) based UMTS. Within the scope of a particular standardization body, specific partners publish and set standards in their respective areas.
Standard document ETSI TS 125 331 v3.10.0 (2002–03) addresses the subject of UMTS RRC (Radio Resource Control) protocol requirements between UTRAN (Universal Terrestrial Access Network) and UE (User Equipment). Although ETSI TS 125 331 specifies the requirement that the UE shall be able to process several RRC procedures, the document may not address how to meet the requirements for handling simultaneous RRC procedures in particular.
Consider a wireless mobile device, also known as user equipment (UE), which complies with the ETSI specifications for the UMTS protocol. The ETSI specification for the RRC layer of the UE, ETSI TS 125 331 v3.10.0 (2002–03), states in section 8 as quoted:
“The UE shall be able to process several simultaneous RRC procedures. After the reception of a message which invoked a procedure, the UE shall be prepared to receive and act on another message which may invoke a second procedure.”
Most RRC procedures are initiated upon receiving a command from the UTRAN and most procedures end after the UE has sent a response message back to the UTRAN. Often the procedure extends to include receiving an acknowledgement of the response message from the UTRAN, but not always. This behaviour is detailed in TS 125.331 for each individual procedure. Although it may not be possible to genuinely handle UTRAN commands simultaneously without the use of multiple processors, there is a need for a solution that can be practiced using a single processor.